2014 - Our 2nd Post

August 10, 2014:  So, it’s been awhile since we’ve blogged!  We’ve been enjoying our time away and spending time with each other and Paco, of course!

As promised we stayed at Josephine’s Pizzeria and RV Park.  I couldn’t determine which came first, the restaurant & bar or the RV park.  We were able to make reservations for Thursday (the third) and Friday (the fourth), so decided to treat ourselves to pizza for dinner one night.  When we checked in we were told they would be having fireworks on Friday; they also had a live band booked for the patio.  The pizza was OK, certainly nothing to shout about, but the experience was interesting.  The band was OK if you liked your music very loud (I guess we’re showing our age!)  Our site was right on the bank of the North Fork of the Salmon River so we enjoyed the sound of the river all the time.  The fireworks were a bit of a bust for the kids in the park, but certainly enough to make Paco go bonkers!

 

Our next stop was Lolo, Montana.  We have heard about Lolo from friends in the square dance community for several years but were unable to get there while we still danced.  It’s a lovely, tree-filled park that is very quiet and welcoming.  We were able to see our friends from Yuma who have been spending there summers there for about ten years.  As with other areas, square dancing has fallen off quite a lot.  We were told there were only 2-1/2 squares for an afternoon workshop and only 4 squares for an evening dance (a square is comprised of four couples arranged in a square formation).  That is radically lower than just a few years ago.

Our next stop was in Hungry Horse, Montana, just to the west of Glacier National Park.  We were able to get reservations at the Crooked Tree Motel and RV Park.  The RV park was located just behind the motel and very quiet.  We had a short list of the things we wanted to do in the area which included The Road to the Sun that bisects Glacier National Park going East/West (or West/East!), Hungry Horse Dam, The Hockaday Art Museum and the Conrad House. 

 

Glacier National Park is quite impressive.  We opted to drive West to East, then drive around the southern end outside of the park.  It’s a good thing we had the car since there were many switchbacks and steep pulls it would have been difficult with the motorhome.  There was lots to see and you could even see some of the glaciers at a distance.  At the Visitor Center, we had our picture tank by some helpful tourists.  The park showed quite a contrast in many areas from the brown landscape to the snow that doesn’t see to melt.  Note the Red Cars; these are updated reproductions of the original touring cars that you see everywhere in Glacier.  They somewhat resemble a stretch vehicle that has an open sunroof so the passengers can stand without getting out of the vehicle.

 

 

 

There were lots of waterfalls, some little and some that made big splashed on the roadway.  Here’s just one of the many we saw.

 

 

The drive took most of the day but we were able to stop to see Hungry Horse Dam, a reclamation project of the US Department of the Interior, as well.  Hungry Horse Dam is on the South Fork of the Flathead River, 15 miles south of the west entrance to Glacier National Park and 20 miles northeast of Kalispell, Montana. The damsite is in a deep, narrow canyon, approximately 5 miles southeast of the South Fork`s convergence with the main stem of the Flathead River. Hungry Horse Project is in the Flathead National Forest, Flathead County, Montana.  The project includes a dam and equipment works, reservoir, powerplant, and switchyard.  At the time of its completion, the dam was the third largest dam, and the second highest concrete dam, in the world.  The project plays an important role in the program for meeting the growing need for power in the Pacific Northwest and in the plans for providing a storage system for control of devastating floods. It also contributes to irrigation, navigation, and other uses.  The prime contract for the construction of Hungry Horse Dam and Powerplant was awarded April 21, 1948, and the work was completed July 18, 1953.

 

The 564-foot-high dam is a variable-thickness concrete arch structure with a crest length of 2,115 ft. The dam and appurtenant works contain 3,086,200 cubic yards of concrete. The spillway is the highest morning-glory structure in the world. Water cascading over the spillway rim drops a maximum distance of 490 feet. The capacity of the spillway is 50,000 cubic feet per second, and the reservoir has a total capacity of 3,468,000 acre-feet.

 

The next day we went into Kalispell, Montana.  We visited and toured a well-preserved 1900’s home, the Conrad Mansion Museum.  The Mansion is the most outstanding example of luxurious pioneer living and period architecture in the Pacific Northwest.  What fun to step back in time and experience the ambiance!  The structure is a bit deceiving … from the front it looks like three level stories, but in the back, the stories are off-set.

 

The Hockaday Art Museum, also in Kalispell, was very interesting.  The art center was named for Lakeside artist Hugh Hockaday (1892-1968), who had moved to the Flathead Valley after a successful career as a commercial artist, and who passed away during the conversion of the Carnegie library to an art center. In 1998, the Hockaday Center changed its name to the Hockaday Museum of Art to reflect its new focus as a museum.  The Museum’s growing permanent collection focuses on the art and artists of Montana. Featured in the permanent collection are works by Hugh Hockaday and others.

 

The Hockaday Museum is housed in a turn-of-the-century Carnegie Library Building that is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. The more than 100-year-old building, now wheelchair accessible, has undergone significant renovations to create a sophisticated museum setting while retaining the building's historic beauty.

 

From Glacier, we made our way toward North Dakota.  Our stop was in Havre, Montana at the Walmart (our only stop at a Walmart thus far.

 

From Havre, Montana we went to Williston, North Dakota.  We stopped at another Walmart and were told we were not welcome to stay overnight.  We asked the security guard about a suggestion of where we could stop for the night and were told to try the truck stops.  When we drove by, it was quite evident that the truck stops were not a good match.  We opted to drive on to Minot, North Dakota.  We found there was one (yes, one!) private campground.  We made our way to the Roughrider Campground in Minot.  It was certainly a popular campground!  When I asked about two nights, I was told they were fully booked, but that they had a space for the next night.  I actually pleaded with them to let us dry camp somewhere for the night as we had been driving from Havre, Montana.  I told them we had stopped in Williston and they chuckled … so I used that to finagle one night of dry camping. 

NOTE:  Further on our travels, we heard of some fires in the Williston area and we were very glad we didn’t stay there.

 

We continued to Dunseith, North Dakota and the International Peace Gardens.  We had a great camp space in the gardens on the US side of the Gardens.  There is definitely more development on the American side of the gardens.  There is the campground, a Music Camp as well as an Athletic Camp.  The primary thing I remember about the campsite was the bugs … lots and lots of bugs!  We enjoyed the gardens.  There were not many blooms, but the landscaping was lovely.  Here are two of the flower pictures we took.
 

 

Here’s a picture of Jerry in front of a picture of the flower clock.  The clock in the gardens was between blooms!  We discovered the clock is kept on track with GPS. 

 

 

There's more to come ... very soon!